The Frenchman edged out his nearest rival Nelson Piquet Jr by half a tenth to claim his second pole position in Formula E, repeating the feat he managed on his debut in Uruguay.

Piquet will line-up in seventh after carrying over a five-place grid penalty for speeding under yellow flags at the previous race in Buenos Aires.

Vergne said: “It’s a good thing to start on pole and to collect the points. Hopefully we can finish in a good position. I will also try and push during the race but we will have to see and hopefully things will work out.”

“We’re hoping to make it a hatrick of podiums today," said Piquet. "We’re getting better and learning all the time and it’s great to be racing here which is my second home. We’re in a good starting position and I’m looking forward to the race.”

Prost said: “I’m confident we did our best during qualifying and it’s a good result for us. It’s going to be a long race today and will need to look after the car. Hopefully we can finish in the top-five and come away with some good points.”

The early stages saw e.dams-Renault’s Nicolas Prost set the pace with a 1:06.167s with the track getting quicker as the session went on. Virgin Racing's Sam Bird briefly joined Prost on the front row narrowly missing out on provisional pole position by a mere 0.003s.

But it was Vergne who shortly after pipped his fellow countryman to the P1 spot and collect three bonus points. Prost, currently lying fourth in the drivers' standings, hung on to clinch second position and line-up on the front row.

Bird ended the session fourth fastest ahead of Audi Sport ABT’s Daniel Abt and Venturi’s Stephane Sarrazin. Seventh spot went to championship leader Lucas di Grassi followed by Dragon Racing’s Jerome D’Ambrosio and Jaime Alguersuari (Virgin Racing) with Nick Heidfeld rounding out the top-10 places.

Today’s race gets underway at 16:00 (local time).